Design without borders.

GLOBAL COLLABORATIVE DESIGN is already well entrenched within manufacturing and other sectors, according to a recent report from research firm Aberdeen Group of Boston. Many companies who use the method find that it saves money.

The group's report, Profitable Design Chains: Global Product Design

"Organizations are turning to a global workforce to not only reduce costs, but also accelerate product innovation," the report said.

Companies that use the design strategy are 52 percent more likely to meet product launch target dates and 28 percent more likely to meet product development cost targets than industry-average companies, the report said.

It goes on to offer recommendations on how to best take advantage of the strategy.

Suggestions include coordinating the design chain through project management and review, centralizing product design data to standardize and automate product development, and bringing in software that protects intellectual property but still allows for collaboration.

Protecting intellectual property continues to be the number one challenge with global design. Product lifecycle management and related technologies help with this, while letting companies collaborate and manage engineering processes across dispersed teams, the report finds.

"Initially, many companies pursuing global design sacrificed strategic needs, such as protecting intellectual property, in favor of addressing some of the more pressing, operational challenges," said Jim Brown, vice president of product innovation and engineering research at Aberdeen. "Companies are now starting to address both the strategic and operational challenges as a part of a more evolved approach to global design."

This section was written by Associate Editor Jean Thilmany.